By Hillary Jackson
Canadian hedge fund manager Sprott Asset Management aspires to be the biggest farm operator in its home country—and maybe even the world. The Toronto firm's motto? "We believe that big can be good," says Steve Yuzpe, chief financial officer of Sprott Resource, the firm's natural resource investment arm, and its agricultural operation, One Earth Farms.
Launched in March 2009, One Earth Farms has already invested $27.5 million to lease 13,000 acres of land from First Nations, a group of Canada's indigenous peoples. By the end of 2009, One Earth Farms had raised another $14 million, which it will use to expand its existing grain business and to launch a cattle operation. Yuzpe says the goal is to have some 200,000 acres by the end of 2011.
Sprott is not the only firm buying into the food sector, even if it is one of...